State

BJP continued its dream run by winning 62 Zilla Parishad (ZP) zones and closely followed BJD which emerged on top by claiming 87 out of 169 from the 175 Zilla Parishad zones which went for polls in the third phase of the 3-tier panchayat elections today. Congress' dismal performance continued as it was able to win only 15 seats.

The saffron party is now 1 zone short of forming the ZP in Sonepur district after it made a clean sweep in the 3rd phase after claiming all the 4 zones which went for polls today. BJP now has 6 zones out of the total 13 zones in the district.

BJP's strong performance here continued in the 3rd phase after it made another clean sweep after claiming all 7 zones in the 3rd phase. BJP has won all the zones in all the 3 phases in Kalahandi. Out of the total 36 zones, BJP's tally is now 25.

In another clean sweep, the BJP claimed all the 5 ZP zones where polls were conducted in the 3rd phase. BJP's tally in the district is now 27 and is only short of 2 zones to form ZP in the district which comprises of 56 zones.